OG-98

Transnational cooperation among corporations is experiencing a modest renaissance among United States firms, even though projects undertaken by two or more corporations under a collaborative agreement are less profitable than projects undertaken by a singly corporation . The advantage of transnational cooperation is that such joint international projects may allow United States firms to win foreign contracts that they would not otherwise be able to win.

98. Which of the following statements by a United States corporate officer best fits the situation of United States firms as described in the passage above?

(A) “We would rather make only a share of the profit and also risk only a share of a possible loss than run the full risk of a loss.”

(B) “We would rather make a share of a relatively modest profit than end up making none of a potentially much

bigger profit.”

(C) “We would rather cooperate and build good will than poison the business climate by all-out competition.”

(D) “We would rather have foreign corporations join us in American projects than join them in projects in their

home countries.”

(E) “We would rather win a contract with a truly competitive bid of our own than get involved in less profitable

collaborative agreements.”

According to the passage, for certain foreign contracts United States firms can either cooperate and hope to earn a modest profit, or not cooperate, not win the contract, and earn no part of a larger profit. This is how choice B describes the situation, so choice B is the best answer.

In order to earn a profit, United States firms must cooperate, so the alternatives described in several of the choices are not in practice open to them: the alternatives of a modest risk versus a full risk (choice A)., cooperation versus competition (choice C), and winning on their own versus collaborating (choice E). Since they do not have the same need to cooperate with foreign corporations to win American contracts, choice D does not fit either.

没看懂解释，为什么A不对阿？恳请NN指教

A 不对因为 original argument 里面没有提到loss, argument里面说美国公司可以跟外企合作来赢得一些otherwise赢不到的合同，合作得到的profit比不合作少(如果可以在不合作的情况下赢得合同），可是不合作根本就拿不到profit(因为不合作拿不到合同)。 所以美国公司宁愿拿一份少点的profit, 也不要一份拿不到的大profit.

沾个光 我也搞懂了 哈哈 谢谢

I have the same question.

I think A is also right but B is more analogous to the passage, so B is better than A. ETS explains that "the alternatives of a modest risk versus a full risk (choice A).", passage states a modest profit versus a full risk, more analogus to B.

A) “We would rather make only a share of the profit and also risk only a share of a possible loss than run the full risk of a loss.”

(B) “We would rather make a share of a relatively modest profit than end up making none of a potentially much

bigger profit.”

BTW, Do these highlighted words imply a contrast? Could it be used as a strategy to differentiate better answer when having time pressure?

looking forward to getting NN's answer. Thanks!